Introduction to Earth Science

Introduction to Earth Science

Quiz 4 - Evolution of Earth & Life Through Time

1. The Theory of Natural Selection explains the processes whereby organisms that are better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. Who was the first scientist to publish the basic concepts of this theory?
a. Carl Linnaeus
b. Charles Darwin
c. Gregor Johann Mendel
d. James Watson and Francis Crick

2. Populations of organisms can develop similar features based upon a utilizing a similar environment and living habits. This process is called:
a. natural selection.
b. divergent evolution.
c. convergent evolution.
d. competition.

3. The science of evolution involves which of these concepts?
a. The life mission of individuals in any species is to eat, survive, and reproduce.
b. While living, individuals must deal with competition (within a population of their own species, or with other species).
c. Individuals within a species must adapt to environmental changes or they face die offs or extinction.
d. all of the above.

4. The term used by the scientific community to refer to the total number of fossils that have been discovered, as well as to the information derived from them is called:
a. paleontology.
b. the fossil record.
c. a sedimentary sequence.
d. evolution.

5.When sea levels rise and shallow seas advance onto the margins of a continent is called a:
a. regression.
b. transgression.
c. sequence.
d. unconformity.

6. The process of changes in species structure of an ecological community over time is called:
a. extinction.
b. mass extinction.
c. ecological succession.
d. climate change.

7. Single-celled organisms (both prokaryotes and eukaryotes) appear in what geologic era?
a. Precambrian
b. Cambrian
c. Paleozoic
d. Mesozoic

8. A mound of calcareous sediment built up of layers of lime-secreting cyanobacteria (blue-green bacteria, algae and other more primitive eukaryotic life forms) that trap sediment, creating layers accumulations is called a:
a. stromatolite.
b. metazoan.
c. banded iron formation.
d. Endosymbiosis.

9. Multicellular animals that have cells that differentiated into tissues and organs and usually have a digestive cavity and nervous system are called:
a. prokaryotes.
b. eukaryotes.
c. stromatolites.
d. metazoans.

10. The earliest period of the Paleozoic Era when shelled organisms first appear in the fossil record:
a. Precambrian.
b. Cambrian.
c. Ordovician.
d. Devonian.

11. The period when ray-fined and lobe-fined bony fishes and sharks first flourished in the Paleozoic Era:
a. Precambrian.
b. Cambrian.
c. Ordovician.
d. Devonian.
e. Cretaceous.

12. The period when fossil forests produced extensive coal deposit through eastern North America:
a. Devonian.
b. Carboniferous.
c. Permian.
d. Triassic.
e. Cretaceous.

13. The period that amphibians first appear in abundance?
a. Ordovician
b. Devonian
c. Mississippian
d. Permian
e. Jurassic

14. The greatest mass extinction occurred at the end of this period, wiping out about 96% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrates that had existed previously.
a. Ordovician
b. Devonian
c. Mississippian
d. Permian
e. Jurassic

15. The name Age of Reptiles best applies to which time range?
a. Mesozoic Era
b. Devonian
c. Cenozoic Era
d. Tertiary Period

16. The dinosaurs first appear in what geologic period?
a. Pennsylvanian
b. Permian
c. Triassic
d. Cretaceous
e. Tertiary

17. Small mammals and flowering plant first appear in abundance in which geologic period?
a. Jurassic
b. Permian
c. Triassic
d. Cretaceous
e. Tertiary

18. A great mass extinction, believed to have been associated with a massive asteroid impact in the Yucatan region of Mexico occurred at the end of which period?
a. Jurassic
b. Permian
c. Triassic
d. Cretaceous
e. Tertiary

19. The Ice Ages are associated with which geologic period?
a. Jurassic
b. Quaternary
c. Triassic
d. Cretaceous
e. Tertiary

20. The name of the geologic epoch we currently live in is:
a. Tertiary.
b. Cenozoic.
c. Quaternary.
d. Holocene.
e. Weshouldhavecene.

https://gotbooks.miracosta.edu/earth_science/quiz/quiz4.html
8/2/2017